Sunday, February 19, 2012

From #OWS and #warisacrime Ten Reasons War Can End An Jeremey Schill's US Counter-Terrorism Policy In Yemen Creating More Extremists

From #OWS and Warisacrime
Top 10 Reasons Wars Can End

Uploaded by davidcnswanson on Feb 16, 2012
Contribution to Brian Lehrer's and John Horgan's discussion at WNYC of "Is War Inevitable?"

Jeremy Scahill at Democracy Now argues that US Intervention in Yemen is Fueling Islamists Extremists.

Scahill points out that the ruler of Yemen Saleh is "a master Chess player" who has been manipulating America into giving his government hundreds of millions of dollars ostensibly to fight Al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen when in fact the money is being used to fight the home grown rebels and the legitimate opposition to Saleh.

Uploaded by gothgod on Feb 18, 2012
Jeremy Scahill talks about how America's counter-terrorism policies in Yemen have backfire and will lead to blowback. The hundreds of millions of dollars given to Saleh government has been used to fight Saleh's legitimate opposition and not to fight terrorists. The US has also used Drones to bomb areas in Yemen so that the people of Yemen are angered by US drone strikes and by the US propping up the Saleh government and not allowing real democracy style elections in Yemen.

The Will of The Empire :

Washington and the Pentagon and White House and its Media have a myopic view of the world. They fear the spread of terrorist organizations which blinds them to other concerns. The establishment in the US is so committed to using the military to fight terrorism they often ignore the reasons terrorists organization are able to gain popular support in one country or another such as increasing poverty, an unfair and unjust system of wealth redistribution elitism and the denial of equal rights for all citizens and the belief that their government is acting as a puppet for America or other Western Nations . The presence in the Middle East of an overwhelming American military force is by itself a matter which many people in the region see as dangerous as a way to intimidate local regimes and to intimidate those citizens in Middle East regimes who are demanding Regime changes and reform as in "the Arab Spring" uprisings and protests.

So the message America and her allies send to other nations is that changes can only take place in these nations if the USA is not threatened in anyway shape or form.
If the US does not like the changes taking place it will cut off aid or impose sanctions or a blockade or use covert operations or overt military force to correct the situation.
So sovereign nations around the globe not just in the Middle East and North Africa are reminded that they can only make changes in domestic or foreign affairs if the US allows them. Their sovereignty is therefore dependent upon the whims and interests of America.
During the Cold War nations were forced to side with the US or the Soviet Union now America is the one and only super-power and therefore believes its interest come before the interest of any other nation . The only exceptions are those countries which have no strategic value or have no exploitable natural resources and those countries which have Nuclear Weapons or in other ways would not as it were be a push-over for the USA.

So a sovereign nation such as Iran has everything to fear when it comes to the United States. In Iran's view the creation of WMDs in the form of nuclear weapons becomes an attractive option in order to assert its sovereignty.

So as the USA tightens its hold on Iran the Iranians are being pushed into a corner as they fear they will be the next Iraq. So the US is neutralizing one country after another which might give support to Iran in the case of an all out war or even a targeted bombing campaign.

The Purple Thumb gambit:

By taking part in an election that is citizens casting a vote at the polls and having their thumbs dipped in purples ink is according to Washington and its sycophantic media is by definition a sign of substantive democratic change but free democratic elections are not merely defined by filling in a ballot at the polls.

To count as free elections there should be a real choice among candidates and party platforms.
To count as free elections there also must not be intimidation of citizens to vote one way or another.
To count as free elections there must be no vote rigging .
The US and its allies deceive the people of Yemen and their own citizens into believing that this sort of farcical election is to be taken seriously as a move towards real substantive democratic change. There is nothing democratic about these elections being held in Yemen.

It reminds one of elections held in other nations for instance historically going back to the American backed meaningless elections in Vietnam in the 1960s during the Vietnam war. It is rather strange given America's criticism of Cuba for instance in which only one political party controlled by the government in power gets to take part in an election.We have seen over the decades America claiming certain Regimes in the Middle East and in Latin America were or are serious about democratic reform because they allow for elections no matter how flawed or corrupt in either refusing to allow candidates or parties to run which seriously question the way these nations are being ruled especially if these parties have serious wide spread popular support.
The US ignores the use of force and intimidation at the polls and the vote rigging that takes place when the government involved is considered an ally to the USA. The interests and concerns of the people in these American backed supposedly sovereign nations are of little or no concern to Washington and its elites.

It should be noted that having more than one party run in an election if there is no real difference between the various political parties doesn't exist then the election is a sham.
There are those in the United States who believe as many in the Occupy movement argue that elections in the US are a bit of a sham given that both parties agree on a number of major issues. Both parties support Wall Street and the banksters and both support the Military Industrial Complex and refuse to insist that healthcare and education and housing etc. are in fact Rights not privileges for those who can afford them.